The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released the final version of the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan (RMP). This plan replaces the existing, outdated plan for the 3.6 million-acre field office in southwest Wyoming which was issued in 1997, and incorporates many of the recommendations from Governor Gordon’s Rock Springs RMP Task Force.
Joshua Coursey, President of Muley Fanatic Foundation and Member of the Governor’s Rock Springs Task Force released the following statement in response:
“Today is the culmination of fourteen years of hard work by hunters, anglers, and so many others who use and enjoy Greater Little Mountain. I want to thank the Bureau of Land Management for honoring the wishes of our communities and adopting a plan that will help conserve Little Mountain’s mule deer for years to come. Now, we must move forward. It would be a great disservice to the hunting and angling community of southwestern Wyoming if we tried to undo this plan. I trust that Governor Gordon will embrace aspects of the plan that his task force specifically recommended, including the conservation of Little Mountain, and will collaborate with BLM – and anyone else who is interested in finding solutions that work for all of Wyoming’s stakeholders – on implementing the Rock Springs plan,” said Joshua Coursey, President and CEO of Muley Fanatic Foundation.
This fall, the Wyoming Outdoor Council (WOC), The Wilderness Society (TWS) and the Center for Western Priorities (CWP) conducted two analyses of how well the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) incorporated public input into the proposed RMP. The first analysis, by the Wyoming Outdoor Council and Wyoming Wilderness Association, showed the Proposed Rock Springs plan was clearly informed by the recommendations from Governor Gordon’s Task Force. Over 80 percent of the recommendations are reflected in the plan.
Composed of local representatives from various Wyoming interests and industries, the Task Force members found consensus for over 100 recommendations. The Task Force delivered the recommendations to Governor Gordon and submitted the recommendations to the Bureau of Land Management during the public comment period that closed in January. The incorporation of these recommendations illustrates the agency listened to, and took seriously feedback from, local stakeholders in the affected communities.
The second analysis shows public comments submitted on the draft version of the Rock Springs plan influenced the proposed plan. TWS’s successful public records request for the 35,000+ comments BLM received on the draft plan allowed CWP to analyze the proportion that were in favor of, or opposed to, conservation of wild lands, wildlife habitats, and important cultural areas. This analysis found that a stunning 92 percent of all public comments were in support of conservation measures.
BLM clearly took this input seriously when retaining over 900,000 acres of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern in the Proposed plan, with a focus on important landscapes known locally as the Big Sandy Foothills, Northern Red Desert, and Greater Little Mountain. These areas contain unmatched wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities and historical and cultural values.
These two analyses showed the BLM committed to honoring input received during the public process and underscore the value of a plan with popularly supported conservation measures for key landscapes. With conservation on equal footing with mineral and energy development, and public access and grazing maintained across the 3.6 million acre planning area, the agency has developed a sensible roadmap for southwestern Wyoming.
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